ACT I
PROLOGUE
Enter GOWER
Before the palace of Antioch
To sing a song that old was
sung,From ashes ancient Gower is come;Assuming man's
infirmities,To glad your ear, and please your eyes.It hath
been sung at festivals,On ember-eves and holy-ales;And lords
and ladies in their livesHave read it for restoratives:The
purchase is to make men glorious;Et bonum quo antiquius, eo
melius.If you, born in these latter times,When wit's more
ripe, accept my rhymes.And that to hear an old man singMay to
your wishes pleasure bringI life would wish, and that I
mightWaste it for you, like taper-light.This Antioch, then,
Antiochus the GreatBuilt up, this city, for his chiefest
seat:The fairest in all Syria,I tell you what mine authors
say:This king unto him took a fere,Who died and left a female
heir,So buxom, blithe, and full of face,As heaven had lent
her all his grace;With whom the father liking took,And her to
incest did provoke:Bad child; worse father! to entice his ownTo
evil should be done by none:But custom what they did beginWas
with long use account no sin.The beauty of this sinful dameMade
many princes thither frame,To seek her as a bed-fellow,In
marriage-pleasures play-fellow:Which to prevent he made a law,To
keep her still, and men in awe,That whoso ask'd her for his
wife,His riddle told not, lost his life:So for her many a
wight did die,As yon grim looks do testify.What now ensues,
to the judgment of your eyeI give, my cause who best can justify.
Exit
SCENE I. Antioch. A room in the
palace.
Enter ANTIOCHUS, Prince PERICLES,
and followers
ANTIOCHUS
Young prince of Tyre, you have at
large receivedThe danger of the task you undertake.
PERICLES
I have, Antiochus, and, with a
soulEmbolden'd with the glory of her praise,Think death no
hazard in this enterprise.
ANTIOCHUS
Bring in our daughter, clothed like
a bride,For the embracements even of Jove himself;At whose
conception, till Lucina reign'd,Nature this dowry gave, to glad
her presence,The senate-house of planets all did sit,To knit
in her their best perfections.
Music. Enter the Daughter of
ANTIOCHUS
PERICLES
See where she comes, apparell'd like
the spring,Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the kingOf
every virtue gives renown to men!Her face the book of praises,
where is readNothing but curious pleasures, as from thenceSorrow
were ever razed and testy wrathCould never be her mild
companion.You gods that made me man, and sway in love,That
have inflamed desire in my breastTo taste the fruit of yon
celestial tree,Or die in the adventure, be my helps,As I am
son and servant to your will,To compass such a boundless
happiness!
ANTIOCHUS
Prince Pericles,--
PERICLES
That would be son to great
Antiochus.
ANTIOCHUS
Before thee stands this fair
Hesperides,With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touch'd;For
death-like dragons here affright thee hard:Her face, like heaven,
enticeth thee to viewHer countless glory, which desert must
gain;And which, without desert, because thine eyePresumes to
reach, all thy whole heap must die.Yon sometimes famous princes,
like thyself,Drawn by report, adventurous by desire,Tell
thee, with speechless tongues and semblance pale,That without
covering, save yon field of stars,Here they stand martyrs, slain
in Cupid's wars;And with dead cheeks advise thee to desistFor
going on death's net, whom none resist.
PERICLES
Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath
taughtMy frail mortality to know itself,And by those fearful
objects to prepareThis body, like to them, to what I must;For
death remember'd should be like a mirror,Who tells us life's but
breath, to trust it error.I'll make my will then, and, as sick
men doWho know the world, see heaven, but, feeling woe,Gripe
not at earthly joys as erst they did;So I bequeath a happy peace
to youAnd all good men, as every prince should do;My riches
to the earth from whence they came;But my unspotted fire of love
to you.
To the Daughter of ANTIOCHUS
Thus ready for the way of life or
death,I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus.
ANTIOCHUS
Scorning advice, read the conclusion
then:Which read and not expounded, 'tis decreed,As these
before thee thou thyself shalt bleed.
Daughter
Of all say'd yet, mayst thou prove
prosperous!Of all say'd yet, I wish thee happiness!
PERICLES
Like a bold champion, I assume the
lists,Nor ask advice of any other thoughtBut faithfulness and
courage.
He reads the riddle
I am no viper, yet I feedOn
mother's flesh which did me breed.I sought a husband, in which
labourI found that kindness in a father:He's father, son, and
husband mild;I mother, wife, and yet his child.How they may
be, and yet in two,As you will live, resolve it you.Sharp
physic is the last: but, O you powersThat give heaven countless
eyes to view men's acts,Why cloud they not their sights
perpetually,If this be true, which makes me pale to read it?Fair
glass of light, I loved you, and could still,
Takes hold of the hand of the
Daughter of ANTIOCHUS
Were not this glorious casket stored
with ill:But I must tell you, now my thoughts revoltFor he's
no man on whom perfections waitThat, knowing sin within, will
touch the gate.You are a fair viol, and your sense the
strings;Who, finger'd to make man his lawful music,Would draw
heaven down, and all the gods, to hearken:But being play'd upon
before your time,Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.Good
sooth, I care not for you.
ANTIOCHUS
Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy
life.For that's an article within our law,As dangerous as the
rest. Your time's expired:Either expound now, or receive your
sentence.
PERICLES
Great king,Few love to hear the
sins they love to act;'Twould braid yourself too near for me to
tell it.Who has a book of all that monarchs do,He's more
secure to keep it shut than shown:For vice repeated is like the
wandering wind.Blows dust in other's eyes, to spread itself;And
yet the end of all is bought thus dear,The breath is gone, and
the sore eyes see clear:To stop the air would hurt them. The
blind mole castsCopp'd hills towards heaven, to tell the earth is
throng'dBy man's oppression; and the poor worm doth die
for't.Kings are earth's gods; in vice their law'stheir
will;And if Jove stray, who dares say Jove doth ill?It is
enough you know; and it is fit,What being more known grows worse,
to smother it.All love the womb that their first being bred,Then
give my tongue like leave to love my head.
ANTIOCHUS
[Aside] Heaven, that I had thy head!
he has foundthe meaning:But I will gloze with him.--Young
prince of Tyre,Though by the tenor of our strict edict,Your
exposition misinterpreting,We might proceed to cancel of your
days;Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a treeAs your fair
self, doth tune us otherwise:Forty days longer we do respite
you;If by which time our secret be undone,This mercy shows
we'll joy in such a son:And until then your entertain shall beAs
doth befit our honour and your worth.
Exeunt all but PERICLES
PERICLES
How courtesy would seem to cover
sin,When what is done is like an hypocrite,The which is good
in nothing but in sight!If it be true that I interpret
false,Then were it certain you were not so badAs with foul
incest to abuse your soul;Where now you're both a father and a
son,By your untimely claspings with your child,Which pleasure
fits an husband, not a father;And she an eater of her mother's
flesh,By the defiling of her parent's bed;And both like
serpents are, who though they feedOn sweetest flowers, yet they
poison breed.Antioch, farewell! for wisdom sees, those menBlush
not in actions blacker than the night,Will shun no course to keep
them from the light.One sin, I know, another doth
provoke;Murder's as near to lust as flame to smoke:Poison and
treason are the hands of sin,Ay, and the targets, to put off the
shame:Then, lest my lie be cropp'd to keep you clear,By
flight I'll shun the danger which I fear.
Exit
Re-enter ANTIOCHUS
ANTIOCHUS
He hath found the meaning, for which
we meanTo have his head.He must not live to trumpet forth my
infamy,Nor tell the world Antiochus doth sinIn such a loathed
manner;And therefore instantly this prince must die:For by
his fall my honour must keep high.Who attends us there?
Enter THALIARD
THALIARD
Doth your highness call?
ANTIOCHUS
Thaliard,You are of our chamber,
and our mind partakesHer private actions to your secrecy;And
for your faithfulness we will advance you.Thaliard, behold,
here's poison, and here's gold;We hate the prince of Tyre, and
thou must kill him:It fits thee not to ask the reason
why,Because we bid it. Say, is it done?
THALIARD
My lord,'Tis done.
ANTIOCHUS
Enough.
Enter a Messenger
Let your breath cool yourself,
telling your haste.
Messenger
My lord, prince Pericles is fled.
Exit
ANTIOCHUS
As thouWilt live, fly after: and
like an arrow shotFrom a well-experienced archer hits the
markHis eye doth level at, so thou ne'er returnUnless thou
say 'Prince Pericles is dead.'
THALIARD
My lord,If I can get him within
my pistol's length,I'll make him sure enough: so, farewell to
your highness.
ANTIOCHUS
Thaliard, adieu!
Exit THALIARD
Till Pericles be dead,My heart
can lend no succor to my head.
Exit
SCENE II. Tyre. A room in the
palace.
Enter PERICLES
PERICLES
[To Lords without] Let none disturb
us.--Why shouldthis change of thoughts,The sad companion,
dull-eyed melancholy,Be my so used a guest as not an hour,In
the day's glorious walk, or peaceful night,The tomb where grief
should sleep, can breed me quiet?Here pleasures court mine eyes,
and mine eyes shun them,And danger, which I fear'd, is at
Antioch,Whose aim seems far too short to hit me here:Yet
neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits,Nor yet the other's
distance comfort me.Then it is thus: the passions of the
mind,That have their first conception by mis-dread,Have
after-nourishment and life by care;And what was first but fear
what might be done,Grows elder now and cares it be not done.And
so with me: the great Antiochus,'Gainst whom I am too little to
contend,Since he's so great can make his will his act,Will
think me speaking, though I swear to silence;Nor boots it me to
say I honour him.If he suspect I may dishonour him:And what
may make him blush in being known,He'll stop the course by which
it might be known;With hostile forces he'll o'erspread the
land,And with the ostent of war will look so huge,Amazement
shall drive courage from the state;Our men be vanquish'd ere they
do resist,And subjects punish'd that ne'er thought offence:Which
care of them, not pity of myself,Who am no more but as the tops
of trees,Which fence the roots they grow by and defend
them,Makes both my body pine and soul to languish,And punish
that before that he would punish.
Enter HELICANUS, with other Lords
First Lord
Joy and all comfort in your sacred
breast!
Second Lord
And keep your mind, till you return
to us,Peaceful and comfortable!
HELICANUS
Peace, peace, and give experience
tongue.They do abuse the king that flatter him:For flattery
is the bellows blows up sin;The thing which is flatter'd, but a
spark,To which that blast gives heat and stronger
glowing;Whereas reproof, obedient and in order,Fits kings, as
they are men, for they may err.When Signior Sooth here does
proclaim a peace,He flatters you, makes war upon your
life.Prince, pardon me, or strike me, if you please;I cannot
be much lower than my knees.
PERICLES
All leave us else; but let your
cares o'erlookWhat shipping and what lading's in our haven,And
then return to us.
Exeunt Lords
Helicanus, thouHast moved us:
what seest thou in our looks?
HELICANUS
An angry brow, dread lord.
PERICLES
If there be such a dart in princes'
frowns,How durst thy tongue move anger to our face?
HELICANUS
How dare the plants look up to
heaven, from whenceThey have their nourishment?
PERICLES
Thou know'st I have powerTo take
thy life from thee.
HELICANUS
[Kneeling]I have ground the axe
myself;Do you but strike the blow.
PERICLES
Rise, prithee, rise.Sit down:
thou art no flatterer:I thank thee for it; and heaven forbidThat
kings should let their ears hear theirfaults hid!Fit
counsellor and servant for a prince,Who by thy wisdom makest a
prince thy servant,What wouldst thou have me do?
HELICANUS
To bear with patienceSuch griefs
as you yourself do lay upon yourself.
PERICLES
Thou speak'st like a physician,
Helicanus,That minister'st a potion unto meThat thou wouldst
tremble to receive thyself.Attend me, then: I went to
Antioch,Where as thou know'st, against the face of death,I
sought the purchase of a glorious beauty.From whence an issue I
might propagate,Are arms to princes, and bring joys to
subjects.Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder;The
rest--hark in thine ear--as black as incest:Which by my knowledge
found, the sinful fatherSeem'd not to strike, but smooth: but
thouknow'st this,'Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to
kiss.Such fear so grew in me, I hither fled,Under the
covering of a careful night,Who seem'd my good protector; and,
being here,Bethought me what was past, what might succeed.I
knew him tyrannous; and tyrants' fearsDecrease not, but grow
faster than the years:And should he doubt it, as no doubt he
doth,That I should open to the listening airHow many worthy
princes' bloods were shed,To keep his bed of blackness unlaid
ope,To lop that doubt, he'll fill this land with arms,And
make pretence of wrong that I have done him:When all, for mine,
if I may call offence,Must feel war's blow, who spares not
innocence:Which love to all, of which thyself art one,Who now
reprovest me for it,--
HELICANUS
Alas, sir!
PERICLES
Drew sleep out of mine eyes, blood
from my cheeks,Musings into my mind, with thousand doubtsHow
I might stop this tempest ere it came;And finding little comfort
to relieve them,I thought it princely charity to grieve them.
HELICANUS
Well, my lord, since you have given
me leave to speak.Freely will I speak. Antiochus you fear,And
justly too, I think, you fear the tyrant,Who either by public war
or private treasonWill take away your life.Therefore, my
lord, go travel for a while,Till that his rage and anger be
forgot,Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life.Your
rule direct to any; if to me.Day serves not light more faithful
than I'll be.
PERICLES
I do not doubt thy faith;But
should he wrong my liberties in my absence?
HELICANUS
We'll mingle our bloods together in
the earth,From whence we had our being and our birth.
PERICLES
Tyre, I now look from thee then, and
to TarsusIntend my travel, where I'll hear from thee;And by
whose letters I'll dispose myself.The care I had and have of
subjects' goodOn thee I lay whose wisdom's strength can bear
it.I'll take thy word for faith, not ask thine oath:Who shuns
not to break one will sure crack both:But in our orbs we'll live
so round and safe,That time of both this truth shall ne'er
convince,Thou show'dst a subject's shine, I a true prince.
Exeunt
SCENE III. Tyre. An ante-chamber in
the palace.
Enter THALIARD
THALIARD
So, this is Tyre, and this the
court. Here must Ikill King Pericles; and if I do it not, I am
sure tobe hanged at home: 'tis dangerous. Well, I perceivehe
was a wise fellow, and had good discretion, that,being bid to ask
what he would of the king, desiredhe might know none of his
secrets: now do I see hehad some reason for't; for if a king bid
a man be avillain, he's bound by the indenture of his oath tobe
one! Hush! here come the lords of Tyre.
Enter HELICANUS and ESCANES, with
other Lords of Tyre
HELICANUS
You shall not need, my fellow peers
of Tyre,Further to question me of your king's departure:His
seal'd commission, left in trust with me,Doth speak sufficiently
he's gone to travel.
THALIARD
[Aside] How! the king gone!
HELICANUS
If further yet you will be
satisfied,Why, as it were unlicensed of your loves,He would
depart, I'll give some light unto you.Being at Antioch--
THALIARD
[Aside] What from Antioch?
HELICANUS
Royal Antiochus--on what cause I
know not--Took some displeasure at him; at least he judged
so:And doubting lest that he had err'd or sinn'd,To show his
sorrow, he'ld correct himself;So puts himself unto the shipman's
toil,With whom each minute threatens life or death.
THALIARD
[Aside] Well, I perceiveI shall
not be hang'd now, although I would;But since he's gone, the
king's seas must please:He 'scaped the land, to perish at the
sea.I'll present myself. Peace to the lords of Tyre!
HELICANUS
Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is
welcome.
THALIARD
From him I comeWith message unto
princely Pericles;But since my landing I have understoodYour
lord has betook himself to unknown travels,My message must return
from whence it came.
HELICANUS
We have no reason to desire
it,Commended to our master, not to us:Yet, ere you shall
depart, this we desire,As friends to Antioch, we may feast in
Tyre.
Exeunt
SCENE IV. Tarsus. A room in the
Governor's house.
Enter CLEON, the governor of Tarsus,
with DIONYZA, and others
CLEON
My Dionyza, shall we rest us
here,And by relating tales of others' griefs,See if 'twill
teach us to forget our own?
DIONYZA
That were to blow at fire in hope to
quench it;For who digs hills because they do aspireThrows
down one mountain to cast up a higher.O my distressed lord, even
such our griefs are;Here they're but felt, and seen with
mischief's eyes,But like to groves, being topp'd, they higher
rise.
CLEON
O Dionyza,Who wanteth food, and
will not say he wants it,Or can conceal his hunger till he
famish?Our tongues and sorrows do sound deepOur woes into the
air; our eyes do weep,Till tongues fetch breath that may proclaim
them louder;That, if heaven slumber while their creatures
want,They may awake their helps to comfort them.I'll then
discourse our woes, felt several years,And wanting breath to
speak help me with tears.
DIONYZA
I'll do my best, sir.
CLEON
This Tarsus, o'er which I have the
government,A city on whom plenty held full hand,For riches
strew'd herself even in the streets;Whose towers bore heads so
high they kiss'd the clouds,And strangers ne'er beheld but
wondered at;Whose men and dames so jetted and adorn'd,Like
one another's glass to trim them by:Their tables were stored
full, to glad the sight,And not so much to feed on as
delight;All poverty was scorn'd, and pride so great,The name
of help grew odious to repeat.
DIONYZA
O, 'tis too true.
CLEON
But see what heaven can do! By this
our change,These mouths, who but of late, earth, sea, and
air,Were all too little to content and please,Although they
gave their creatures in abundance,As houses are defiled for want
of use,They are now starved for want of exercise:Those
palates who, not yet two summers younger,Must have inventions to
delight the taste,Would now be glad of bread, and beg for
it:Those mothers who, to nousle up their babes,Thought nought
too curious, are ready nowTo eat those little darlings whom they
loved.So sharp are hunger's teeth, that man and wifeDraw lots
who first shall die to lengthen life:Here stands a lord, and
there a lady weeping;Here many sink, yet those which see them
fallHave scarce strength left to give them burial.Is not this
true?
DIONYZA
Our cheeks and hollow eyes do
witness it.
CLEON
O, let those cities that of plenty's
cupAnd her prosperities so largely taste,With their
superfluous riots, hear these tears!The misery of Tarsus may be
theirs.
Enter a Lord
Lord
Where's the lord governor?
CLEON
Here.Speak out thy sorrows which
thou bring'st in haste,For comfort is too far for us to expect.
Lord
We have descried, upon our
neighbouring shore,A portly sail of ships make hitherward.
CLEON
I thought as much.One sorrow
never comes but brings an heir,That may succeed as his
inheritor;And so in ours: some neighbouring nation,Taking
advantage of our misery,Hath stuff'd these hollow vessels with
their power,To beat us down, the which are down already;And
make a conquest of unhappy me,Whereas no glory's got to overcome.
Lord
That's the least fear; for, by the
semblanceOf their white flags display'd, they bring us peace,And
come to us as favourers, not as foes.
CLEON
Thou speak'st like him's untutor'd
to repeat:Who makes the fairest show means most deceit.But
bring they what they will and what they can,What need we
fear?The ground's the lowest, and we are half way there.Go
tell their general we attend him here,To know for what he comes,
and whence he comes,And what he craves.
Lord
I go, my lord.
Exit
CLEON
Welcome is peace, if he on peace
consist;If wars, we are unable to resist.
Enter PERICLES with Attendants
PERICLES
Lord governor, for so we hear you
are,Let not our ships and number of our menBe like a beacon
fired to amaze your eyes.We have heard your miseries as far as
Tyre,And seen the desolation of your streets:Nor come we to
add sorrow to your tears,But to relieve them of their heavy
load;And these our ships, you happily may thinkAre like the
Trojan horse was stuff'd withinWith bloody veins, expecting
overthrow,Are stored with corn to make your needy bread,And
give them life whom hunger starved half dead.
All
The gods of Greece protect you!And
we'll pray for you.
PERICLES
Arise, I pray you, rise:We do
not look for reverence, but to love,And harbourage for ourself,
our ships, and men.
CLEON
The which when any shall not
gratify,Or pay you with unthankfulness in thought,Be it our
wives, our children, or ourselves,The curse of heaven and men
succeed their evils!Till when,--the which I hope shall ne'er be
seen,--Your grace is welcome to our town and us.
PERICLES
Which welcome we'll accept; feast
here awhile,Until our stars that frown lend us a smile.
Exeunt